Sister Regina Purtell D. C. | |
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| Personal | |
| Born | Ellen Purtell November 14, 1866 Monches, Wisconsin, U.S. |
| Died | October 24, 1950 (aged 83) New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S. |
| Religion | Catholic |
| Occupation |
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Regina Purtell (1866–1950) was an American Roman Catholic sister and United States Army nurse. She cared for Theodore Roosevelt's "Rough Riders", and the media dubbed her "The Florence Nightingale of the Spanish-American War."[1]
In 1902, after Roosevelt had become president, she became his personal nurse at his request when he underwent surgery.[2] In 1918 she became even more well-known for nursing many students at the University of Texas at Austin, including sons of the Rough Riders, during the Spanish flu pandemic.
Her last, 20-year posting at a leprosy hospital in Carville, Louisiana, drew upon all she had learned. Because of her expertise in infectious disease, she was the first to recognize smallpox, and she went into quarantine with her patients. Neither she nor her nurses contracted either smallpox or leprosy thanks to her standard of hygiene and medical care.
- ^ "'Nightingale' of War Nun Given Army Burial". The St. Louis Register. Vol. 10, no. 45. November 3, 1950.
- ^ Mitchell, Dawn (September 20, 2015). "Bully! Teddy Roosevelt Undergoes Surgery During 1902 Visit to Indianapolis". IndyStar (The Indianapolis Star). Archived from the original on June 25, 2023. Retrieved June 25, 2023.